A ski binding part is known having swingable levers which rest both with their ends and also with a roller provided thereon on the sole of the ski boot. The sole holders are not toggle levers, but further levers are arranged on the axles of the rollers, the other common hinge point of which is connected to a spring. A disadvantage of this construction is that adjustment of the normal position of the levers to various ski boot soles is not possible.
Also a ski binding part has already been suggested, which has two two-arm sole holders pivotal about ski-fixed axles and rest with each one arm on the boot sole. On the second arm of each sole holder at the front edge thereof, there is provided a recess for forming a locking receptacle, in which engages a spring-loaded locking element in the form of a support roller. The support rollers are carried by two levers, which are supported pivotally on a common eccentric axis which is arranged perpendicularly with respect to the ski and are under the action of a leaf spring package. The horizontal spacing between the support rollers can be varied by rotation of the eccentric axis, which causes the sole holders to be pivoted for adjustment to various ski boot forms. However, in the case of such an adjustment by means of the eccentric axis, the engagement of the support rollers in the locking recesses changes and the point of application of the spring package on the levers carrying the support rollers is also changed. Thus at an adjustment and thus at various boot shapes different release moments are obtained. Furthermore, this device is very complicated due to the many parts and is also expensive and therefore also easily susceptible to trouble.
It is furthermore also known to support the ski binding part directly on a carriage which is adjustable in longitudinal direction of the ski and a resilient pin is supported in the movable carriage, which pin engages a notch in the base plate. The pin rests in the locking position on a surface of the ski binding part. This causes at a certain swing of the ski binding part the carriage to be released and to be moved forwardly, so that the ski boot is released totally and without friction by the sole holders. A disadvantage of this solution consists on the one hand in the binding having to be returned manually into the initial position after the release operation, furthermore, the unlocking operation of the locking pin is possible only by using an additional spring and the spring force must be overcome during a closing of the binding. For the purpose of a positive unlocking, the spring may not be weakly dimensioned. Then, however, in particular under difficult snow and slope conditions, readjustment of the binding into the ready position (for stepping in) is complicated.
Therefore, the purpose of the invention is to provide a ski binding part movably freely forwardly after a certain swinging of the sole holder and after the ski boot is released the ski binding part is returned automatically into the initial position and is locked in said initial position.
The purpose of the invention is attained by the second arms of the sole holders being held between one end of a spindle which is arranged in the housing and extends in longitudinal direction of the ski and on which a bent end of a slide member is secured and a bent end on a movable carriage, which carriage, as actually known, carries the ski binding part and can be moved along a base plate fixed to a ski. A lock is arranged in the ski binding part and can engage or disengage from a notch in the base plate. The lock rests on the side of the bent section of the carriage, remote from the second arms, and said carriage can be moved up and down along a limited path controlled at least in one direction by the slide member, and by a resilient fork means anchored to the base plate and operatively connected to a part of the carriage, which part extends substantially parallel to the base plate.
A mechanism has been able to be created with the inventive measure for assuring after the release operation has taken place both an automatic return of the ski binding part into the initial position and also an automatic locking of the carriage in said initial position.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lock can be positively controlled by the slide member at least in direction of unlocking by a frictional connection and/or form locking connection therebetween. This creates a positive release without requiring additional structural parts.
In the locking direction of the lock, the lock can engage through its own weight. However, it is more advantageous, if inventively the lock is loaded either by a spring or is forcedly controlled by a control element on the slide member.
According to a further thought of the invention, the part of the slide member which extends in longitudinal direction of the ski and which lies substantially parallel to the base plate or the carriage can have at least one part, as for example an edge, a stop or the like. This produces a particularly simple positive control for the unlocking operation.
According to a different thought of the invention, the resilient fork means can be secured with the interpositioning of a holding part on the underside of the carriage, the holding part being bent and having openings therein for receiving the legs of the fork and including springs arranged on the legs of the forks. This structural part can be easily exchanged, if needed, for example if new springs should be needed, or if a return with altered spring characteristics is desired.
Furthermore it is possible in a ski binding part of the above-mentioned type, which preferably has also one or several characteristics of the aforementioned thoughts of the invention, to use a measure wherein the second arms of the sole holders engage comblike or side-by-side over one another in the area of the slide member against which they engage. This measure can, as mentioned, be used not only in the case of a ski binding part, which permits a shifting forwardly; it can also be used in other ski binding parts which were mentioned hereinabove. As a result, a centered guide is achieved, without creating--like in other similar ski binding parts--an undesired torque acting against the return force. Thus the action of the return spring can be better utilized, or if the force reduced by the torque would be sufficient, a smaller return spring can be used.